• There were more Twitter hijinks, this time from Hamilton city councillor Judi Partridge (Ward 15 Flamborough), who took issue with something in Steve Milton's piece that I posted yesterday.

judipartridge: @TheSpec @Scratchingpost #Ticats Guelph
has been a football town long before the #TiCats please don't insult
this community #arrogance

Frankly, I've got no earthly idea what she's talking about. Steve's piece – which I didn't write, obviously – didn't insult Guelph in any way. And I'm not sure what she means by "this community," because Flamborough certainly isn't Guelph.

I sent her a Tweet asking for clarification and while her followers have been graced with a picture of her fireplace and a menu update from Angel's Diner in Waterdown, there has been no response from her thus far.

• Finally, here's my piece from Saturday's paper on Greg Peach, another one of my favourites: he's the right mix of funny, thoughtful and intense. And this is a great picture...

Greg Peach has made a major, life-changing decision this off-season,
one that will not only impact his own fate but could also hold the key
to the future success of the Ticats as well.

He trimmed his beard.

Though there are a number of
practical explanations for the Ticats woeful 6-12 season in 2012 — a
porous defence, turnovers, questionable coaching decisions — a few
players were of the opinion that the scraggly, nasty beard the Ticat
defensive end allowed to run amok on his face for six months was to
blame.

Old Peach.

“The day after the season was over,
Rey Williams and Henry Burris were like ‘You're never growing that thing
out again, are you?'” Peach said this week from his off-season home in
Spokane, Washington. “It wasn't a very good look.”

And while it would be nice to think
that Peach's decision to finally employ a set of clippers was motivated
by a desire to improve the team's fortunes, it was his December wedding
that provided the final inspiration. The Peach nuptials, do not,
however, sound like they were a typical church-and-tuxedo affair.

“All my friends and family are spread
out, so we all got together at a lodge in East Lake, Idaho, and rented
out 30 cabins and spent two nights there,” Peach said.

“It was a blast.”

Like all newlyweds, the 26-year-old
Peach is still adjusting to married life. Though he and wife Kolbi have
been together for several years, things are somehow different now.

“Things are similar after you get
married but your mindset changes. Now she's my wife and I have to
protect her, make sure she's safe,” Peach said. “And I'm always messing
around with the ring, taking it on and off. But I'm getting more and
more used to it.”

While Peach's life off the field is
in good shape — he's enrolled in classes at Eastern Washington this
winter — it took him a while to get over his first season as a Ticat.

After signing as a free agent last
February, Peach missed the first three games with a rib injury but still
finished with a career-high six sacks.

But it was the team's failure to make
the post-season — they were knocked out of playoff contention on the
final play of the final game — that left him demoralized.

“You grind for so long — including
off-season training it's like nine or 10 months — putting your body
through so much stress, putting your mind under all of this pressure.
When you fall short it's really devastating,” Peach said. “It takes a
while to come off that and prepare for the next go-round. It was tough.”

Now that the wedding — and the
planning that went with it — is finally over and the sting of last
season has finally worn off, Peach is back into his arduous training
regimen. He works out with former Eastern Washington teammate and
current Edmonton Eskimo linebacker J.C. Sherritt, doing a variety of
strength and conditioning drills designed specifically for football.

“There is a lot of plyometrics, we do
a ton of explosive lifts and lots of agility drills,” Peach said. “We
turn it up a notch every week so you're never feeling good after a
workout, you just want to throw up.”

Bouts of self-induced nausea aside,
Peach acknowledges that things seem to be coming together on all fronts.
He's happily married, in school, working out hard and feeling
optimistic about next season. And without the beard, he looks a whole
lot better.

There is an old saying that is sage advice you might consider adopting... "It is better to have people think you a fool than to open your mouth (or Twitter) and remove all doubt."

The only thing you achieved with this incomprehensible tweet is to reinforce the stereo type that all Hamilton City Councillors are clowns, morons or both.

Isn't your time better spent doing all that wonderful work the City Council is known for... the Panam Stadium Debacle, or denying the downtown core a casino + hotel + restaurant complex that will bring 2,500 jobs to Hamilton, or hiring contractors who do not remove snow, or maybe having city employees who sell asphalt and work 1/2 hour days?

Just saying that as a Hamilton City Councillor you have an awful lot of dirty laundry you should clean up before getting after a few of Hamilton's truly bright spots, journalists Steve Milton and Drew Edwards.

Aw Drew - you forgot the pear tree! but then it is February and not December!

I must say that Peach does look much better with the trimmed beard - although I doubt that it contributed to the Ticats defensive woes last season. Here is to an improved Ticats team - especially on defense in 2013 (yes I know they have some work to do to get players in place!) and a run for the play offs at the very least.